A shunt switch may include a plurality of field effect transistors (FETs) which are connected in series between a high frequency signal node and a ground node, for example. When the shunt switch is turned on, the high frequency signal node is forcibly made to have the same potential as the ground node.
In such a shunt switch, there is a distortion which is generated when the shunt switch is in an ON state (hereinafter referred to as “ON distortion”) and a distortion which is generated when the shunt switch is in an OFF state (hereinafter referred to as “OFF distortion”). It is necessary to make these distortions as small as possible. But, in general, there is a tradeoff relationship between the ON distortion and the OFF distortion. For example, although the number of stages of series connected FETs in the shunt switch can be reduced to lower the ON distortion, the decrease in the number of stages causes an increase the OFF distortion.